Dunkin' Donuts is under construction in Kalamazoo; set to open June 26

Al Jones / GazetteWork continues late last week on the Dunkin' Donuts location on South Westnedge Avenue at Whites Road. The 1,800-square-foot shop is expected to seat 30 people. It is being built just west of the 4-year-old Jimmy John's sandwich franchise that Knapick and his brothers established there four years ago there in the Kalamazoo Crossings retail plaza.

KALAMAZOO, MI – The first of three Dunkin' Donuts stores is taking shape near the southwest corner of South Westnedge Avenue at Whites Road and is expected to be completed and open by June 26.

Michael Knapick, general manager of Sack of Donuts LLC, a Portage-based company that has acquired the rights to establish franchises of the coffee and donut shop in southwest Michigan and northern Indiana, said he is also working to get two others established, one further south in Portage and another on Kalamazoo’s West Side.

“We have our eye on places,” Knapick said Wednesday. “It is just a matter of working out a deal (with property owners).”

Those are expected to be among eight the business wants to open in lower Michigan and northern Indiana.

The 1,800-square-foot Westnedge at Whites location shop is expected to seat 30 people. The cost of the project has been estimated at about $300,000.

At 3102 S. Westnedge Ave. is will be just west of the Jimmy John's sandwich franchise that Knapick and his brothers established there in the Kalamazoo Crossings retail center four years ago.

Knapick signed a lease agreement last fall with PlazaCorp Realty Advisors Inc., of Kalamazoo, which owns Kalamazoo Crossings. Construction began in January and is being led by general contractor James Ware Construction Inc., of Sturgis.

It has been more than a decade since Dunkin Donuts as a local franchise. The company closed its two area stores, at 6425 S. Westnedge Ave. and 2914 Portage St., in 2000 and 2001.

The Dunkin Donuts is being built where the two houses used to stand. Knapick signed a lease agreement with PlazaCorp Realty Advisors Inc., of Kalamazoo, which owns Kalamazoo Crossings. Construction began in January and is being led by general contractor James Ware Construction Inc., of Sturgis.